What I've learned from Dr. John Maxwell

"Invest in my mind." This is one of my ultimate goals, that's why when my loyal friend Coy informed me about the simulcast leadership conference by Dr. John Maxwell. I didn't think twice and grabbed the opportunity. I don't know why I love attending seminars or conferences, yes you may term that as 'sponging,' but there's just this hunger in me to learn, to learn and to learn (I believe that all of us has a lot of things to learn and discover). I'll ask as many questions as I can, observe as much as I want and read until I fall asleep. Honestly for me, LEARNING IS FUN!

Since I've listened to a wise man sharing his wisdom to thousands of Filipino people last Tuesday (June 10, 2008), it is my honor to share the nuggets of wisdom I've learned. I'm telling you, it's full packed. John Maxwell has a lot of information that's why most of us who attended took notes (fingers crossed). As a good friend, I wanna share some things that struck me, of course, we have different needs, but I hope you learn from these things as well. Now get ready coz I have a 20 pages notes here. Hehe

• EVERYONE WANTS TO BE SUCCESSFUL-I agree when Dr. John Maxwell said this. For 30 years, he studied success and surrounded himself with successful people. Yes, success is very subjective and personal. For him, a person needs only four things to be successful. And that is summed up in this acronym that can be found in most of his books. 'REAL.' R stands for relationships, E stands for Equipping, A stands for Attitude and L stands for Leadership.

• SUCCESS IS KNOWING YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE-He mentioned that highly successful people know why they're here. They have persistence when everyone's giving up. Truly there are hundreds of us or even more than that who have not discovered our purpose in life but let's not lose heart coz it takes some time. Dr. John Maxwell himself said that it took him 7 years with passion to discover it.

• PASSION GIVES YOU ENERGY-We have to ask ourselves, what are we passionate about? He said that our purpose and passion usually match so we have to know our passion. There are some things that we're passionate about but we're not good at it. We can't spend our money, time and 100% effort in the things we're not born with. Our passion and our abilities or giftedness should match. Finding that passion will produce high energy.

• IF YOU CAN BELIEVE, IT YOU CAN ACHIEVE IT-This is a famous statement most of us know. But I'm telling you, Dr. John Maxwell is not agreeing with this statement. He gave American Idol as an example. Some people are believing that they have the talent but they don't have the innate gift to sing. If they keep on believing that, it's gonna bring misery to their lives. Like what I've said above, there's just some things that we're not good at and we have to accept it. We have weaknesses but we do have strengths as well. It's better to sharpen those strengths that we have than focus on our weaknesses. If you can't sing my dear friend, you can't sing. Welcome to life.

• IF YOU'RE NOT ANY GOOD AT YOUR JOB, DO EVERYBODY A FAVOR, RESIGN-Dr. Maxwell said that average people will not add value to the world. We have to be honest in evaluating ourselves, are we an average employee or an excellent one. Well, it tales time to be on the excellent side but if we're really not doing any good with our job, we better resign and find the job that we're passionate about. Like what Ms. Carol Austria said, you will only do things excellently if you're passionate with it. I agree.

• INVEST IN YOURSELF, INVEST IN OTHERS AS WELL-What book are you reading? What book did you let someone borrowed? He asked these questions and it made me think deeper. If we wanna be succesful, we have to pay the price. If you're a parent, invest in your kids, tell them stories before going to bed, teach them good values, buy them good books. Dr. maxwell said that books are the greatest investment that a parent will make to his/her children.

I've learned a lot from that ledership conference. I tell you, it's gravitas! I wanna write more and share more but I think it's better if learn from him directly through reading his books as if you're having a cup of coffee with Dr. John Maxwell, for me, Apple juice is enough. Hehe, hope you've learned from what I've learned form Dr. Maxwell. Like what he said, invest in others, I've invested my time just to write this long entry for the sake of my good friends who continously reading my blog posts. I'm sharing it and passing it on.

I'm fascinated with the life that we have, there's so much things to learn!! Hoo!! What an awesome Creator we have. Thank you Lord for the wisdom!

Stay blessed people!!

Monette